1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to specially alloyed metallic carriers for use in an electrostatographic developer material.
2. Description of Related Art
The electrostatographic process, and particularly the xerographic process, is well known. This process involves the formation of an electostatic latent image on a photoreceptor, followed by development of the image with a developer and subsequent transfer of the image to a suitable substrate. Numerous different types of xerographic imaging processes are known wherein, for example, insulative developer particles or conductive developer particles are selected depending on the development systems used.
The use of coated carrier particles in two-component developers is well known in the art.
Carrier particles for use in the development of electrostatic latent images are described in many patents including, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,000. These carrier particles may consist of various cores, including steel, with a coating thereover of fluoropolymers, and terpolymers of styrene, methacrylate, and silane compounds.
Typical carriers, coated carriers, their method of manufacture and developer compositions containing such carriers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,233,387; 4,937,166; 4,935,326 and 5,567,562, the complete disclosure of which patents is incorporated herein by reference.
The main purpose of applying polymeric coatings on an iron or steel carrier core is to achieve high triboelectric and conductivity properties. However, aging or removal of these coatings by attrition results in poor triboelectric stability and triboelectric decay which is particularly a problem in color imaging using cyan, magenta and yellow toners.
Thus, it is desirable to provide developer carrier material which not only provides improved triboelectric and conductivity properties, but also maintains these properties over a longer period of time.